AND THEY WERE WIZARDS. (Oh my god they were wizards)

Midnight Sneaks

"I still don't know what Dumbledore's playing at, letting dementors patrol the place." Janus was saying a week into term as he, Remus, Remy, and Virgil walked down the corridor away from their DADA class.

"Yeah, I knew they were bad but after last week, I think I might take the deranged murderer." Said Virgil.

"Apparently, the ministry thinks differently." Remus said, stretching.

"Those weirdos and their regard for my life," Virgil muttered.

"How about Lupin though?" Remy chimed in. they'd all now had professor Lupin three times that week, and every lesson had been very engaging.

"The first teacher to make me actually want to do my homework," said Janus.

"Yes, I wouldn't consider my first name worth sharing with any lesser individual," Remus said loftily.

"Yeah, what with OWLs and Black on the loose," said Remy as they reached the intersection in the corridor where they were all to separate, "it's a good year for him to come along."

"Only thing is learning from him will probably make pranking each other a lot harder," Virgil said. He waved to the others as he took a left turn to his next class. He didn't seem to have noticed how tense his last comment had made Remy. Janus and Remus did, however.

"Hey Rem?" Janus said.

"I should probably get going," Remy took a step in the other direction, adjusting his shades.

"Hold on," Remus stopped him, then shared a look with Janus in which they seemed to come to a silent agreement. He turned to Remy. "Meet us in the entrance hall half past midnight." he said quietly, "don't get caught on your way there."

The two of them dashed down the corridor before Remy could ask a single question, disappearing among the crowd of students.

*******************

Remy had debated with himself all day over whether to sneak out to meet Dee and Remus. It wouldn't be the first time he'd be out after hours, but it would certainly be the first time he'd do it without knowing why. Or without Roman for that matter. And on the subject of Roman, if Remy was to make this happen, he'd need to make sure Roman didn't know. It would have been a given that Roman would follow just for the danger, but since they weren't talking, there was no knowing for sure what he might do. Remy would have to keep him completely unsuspicious.

He sat alone in the far corner of the common room, keeping a close eye on the clock as he tried to focus on his homework. He'd been unconsciously putting together his plan all day: he'd pretend to turn in for the night, stuff his pillows and clothes under his sheets, then sneak back down being careful not to show his face, and slip out of the portrait hole to meet Remus and Janus. As long as he didn't screw it up, nobody would be any the wiser.

By twenty past twelve, Remy found himself stalking the dark hallways quietly, approaching the entrance hall without being spotted by anyone so far. Though, why his friends wanted to meet in such an open, exposed space was beyond him. Creeping around the corner of the doorway, Remy peeked into the entrance hall. "Guys?" he whispered into the empty room.

Before he could further consider the possibility that they'd already been caught, or that they'd set him up for some cruel reason, a voice whispered back from the other end of the room. "Hey."

Remus appeared from the shadows near the door across the room. Janus came from a different corner at the other end. Remy walked silently forward to meet them. "Why were you on different sides of the room?" He breathed, "didn't you come together?"

"If Filch or Norris came in one direction, then only one of us would've been caught." Remus explained.

"And tonight in particular, it was important that the other would've been able to warn you." Janus added.